Jackfruit Veg (Kathal ki Subzi) – Again a mom special

Sundays mean shopping veggies & fruits from nearby ‘bhaazji market’ or ‘subzi mandi’ as known to us North Indians. Staying in Pune for last 4 yrs have made me a punewala (people say so as I’ve started picking local lingo & mannerisms) so it is bhaazi & not subzi.

When on such a Sunday we went shopping early morning with kiddo in car seat, V parked the car just opposite to a cart (thhela) selling fresh pumpkin/ kaddu/ bhopla & Jackfruit/ kathal, he went shopping happily for veggies leaving me & the son to cool our heels in car. They both were so fresh and inviting, I kept looking at them while waiting for V to be back. In some matters V and I have perfect tuning, even he couldn’t miss the fresh fruit cart and asked me would I like to buy them. I jumped at the chance. So now my turn to bargain & haggle for 1/2 kg each of jackfruit & kaddu.

In north India, Jackfruit is eaten as vegetable. Only when I came to Pune I got to know that it is mostly eaten here as fruit in summers. I was quite confused – a vegetable eaten as fruit? Well to be honest I’ve never had the courage to try Jackfruit as fruit but was happy to make kathal ki subzi. Everytime I come across a veggie which I’ve eaten at home but haven’t eaten or made it in a long long time, I call my mom. And that’s what I did that day as well. I was super excited to make and eat this veg as it used to be one of my favorites back home but hadn’t come across nice & fresh jackfruit in a long time.

Preparation

1.

Remove the hard peel of jackfruit. Chop it into bite sized pieces. Remove the hard covering of the seeds inside the jackfruit. Peel and chop potatoes in same size as jackfruit.

2.

Heat ghee in a cooker, add all the spices. Now add tomatoes and slightly roast them. Add chopped jackfruit and potatoes to the spices. Add very little water and pressure cook for 1 whistle. Serve hot with chapati.